White Lilies and Monster's Eyes
by emstar1-1
Summary: A selection of one-shots focusing on the life, relationship, and family of Edge and Rydia. Takes place over the entire chronology of the games, and offers several different timelines.
1. 020 Over

Hello! Welcome to the first of a series of one-shots I'll be doing. I took about 75 different prompts, split them into different pairings and have done series based on them, so you might see me in different fandoms. Oh, and the first four will be in some semblance of chronology. So, without further ado:

**Disclaimer: I don't own this game, nor the characters within it.**

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><p><strong><span>020. Over<br>**

It was over. Everything was over. The fight that she shaped her entire _life_ was over with one deft swish and jab of Cecil's crimson coated sword. Zemus was gone - as though he'd never existed - and it was over.

None of them could quite believe it, not after they'd reached the airship, not even after they'd made it half way back to their home world. It was as though they were dreaming, not quite aware if what they were doing, yet not quite unaware either. And Rydia could not even bare to think past what she would do after she finally got the chance to rest, bathe, and eat a proper meal after so long with only potions and other such liquids to keep her going. But of course _he_ knew _exactly_ what he was going to do. As always.

"What're you going to do after we get back Mysidia?" He inquired with a boyish twang in his voice, as curious as ever - he reminded her of a cat, in some ways; poking himself into all kinds of situations and looking at her with ever blank but somehow curious eyes.

"Sleep."

"And after that?"

"Bathe." she reeled off listlessly in as monotone voice as she could muster. That usually deterred him.

He raised an eyebrow suggestively and smirked like the immature little boy he overtly was, but thankfully said nothing. "And after that." _Well, isn't he feeling persistent today?_

"Eat."

"Rydia," he warned with a tired sigh - which was new, "you know what I meant. What will you do with your life?" Such a big question for such a tired mind.

"You tell me Edge, because clearly you're the only one who has their life figured out!" Rydia snapped, almost shouting, huffing like the petulant child Edge usually was. Why did she always do this around Edge - act as though she wanted nothing more to be rid of him when really, deep inside, she wanted the exact opposite?

He looked at her with his grey green eyes sharply then, and something unreadable swirled in them; something she desperately wanted to know. "Of course I know what I'm going to do, I don't have a choice, I'm going to have to become king and rule. Cecil too. And Rosa? Well, we all know that she's going to stay at Cecil's side and probably become queen, and Kain will be off doing Lord knows what because that's all he ever does." He said with and embittered voice, and the words that he said stung just like a Flan's acid, her mouth hanging slightly open in shock. But he was undeniably right, none of them had a choice, but she had all the choice in the world. She shouldn't wallow in her freedom.

"We only care about you, Rydia, that's why we ask. So please, if you'd be so kind, don't push us away and act like we know nothing of your troubles. Because all we want to do is _h__elp_." As he walked away, all Rydia could do is think how much she'd messed up this time. And how lonely she was. And how tired she was. And how all unassumingly angry she was.

He wouldn't speak to her at all after that, not when they landed back on the blue planet, not during the festivities (but, of course, he seemed to flirt with every other woman in Mysidia), not even when he saw her as she was fleeing Mysidia during the night. She wasn't even sure if they'd meet again! Years could go by in a mere month on the surface - she could be dead and buried by the time he was three years older! And he wouldn't care.

It was clear that their relationship - whatever it was; friend or enemy or something more - was completely, utterly and irreversibly _over_.

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><p>She spent her time in the Feymarch, day after day merely existing, staying away from those who might realise something was wrong. What that was exactly? She didn't know. But something was amiss, something was making her feel like she had nothing left to do with her life but pine for something that she'd missed out on. It felt like hole in her heart, like when she left her travels behind, she left part of her soul in the care of something, or someone, else. She dreamed of her friends - but surely they weren't what she missed to make her feel like this? She missed them a lot of course, but not this devastatingly so. They were busy anyway, <em>he'd<em> made that clear enough. So naturally, all she had to do with her time was play with the young Eidolons and keep to herself. But of course Shiva and Mist noticed. When didn't they?

"What is bothering you child?" Shiva asked with her voice as crisp as the early spring mornings of Mist, after appearing quite suddenly out of seemingly nowhere. It never failed to surprise her when Shiva was in her human form; her eyes were a tell tale ice blue, yet her hair was a lustrous mahogany brown. She stood tall amongst others, with shoulders firmly back and chin up - she had a very regal aura. Sometimes even making Rydia want to cower away - like she was no good around such a noble and beautiful creature. Perhaps the most curious feature of Shiva however, was her pale as the freshly fallen snow skin that seemed to exude frost from her very pores.

Rydia was startled at their sudden appearance, apparently it was simply 'easier to move on two legs'. She sighed forlornly, and turned back to facing the wall of her house, counting the trite grey stones for the thousandth time; the two women coming to sit on the wooden stools in front of her, blocking her view of the bricks.

"Nothing much." She mumbled nonchalantly.

The two Eidolons looked at each other with a look that just made Rydia irate for some reason - like they knew something she didn't. She was already lonely enough, she didn't need more friends keeping her out of the loop and turning their back on her.

"What transpired between your companions and you before you left?" Mist asked, her silver eyes full of sympathy, yet her light blonde eyebrows were pulled into a light frown, a crease appearing between her eyes, and her pink lips were pursed tightly as though she was stopping herself from saying too much.

"Nothing." She concluded not to say anything either - two could play at that game.

Shiva gave her a frosty look and Rydia sighed; she knew that they would stop at nothing to get this out of her. Thus, she recounted it all - from the way Edge spoke to her, to the silence and gloom that overhung the partings in Mysidia. Even though she knew that whining about her misfortunes would do nothing, she somehow felt better about it, the way that Shiva and Mist looked at her with empathetic ice blue and cloud hued silver eyes. And even though she knew what she'd experienced throughout their travels was long over, she couldn't help but nurse some bitterness over the fact that they were all needed somewhere and she was tied to nowhere. She didn't matter, in the end - no one depended on her. She hoped she could remedy that.

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><p>A year passed for Rydia, before she finally received a letter from Baron - the inevitable wedding invitation. Naturally, without skipping a beat, Rydia was off, ushered to go by Asura and Leviathan 'in their stead'. When she reached Baron two weeks later, and finally saw Rosa and Cecil for the first time in so long for her, she discovered that it had been only two months on the surface. And that they were worried about her. She could tell by crinkle in between Rosa's eyes and the way Cecil's eyes sloped down. Did she really look that different? She'd grown a few inches granted, and her hair was now down to her mid back, but nothing else had changed, surely!<p>

"You seem different, Rydia." Cecil noted with his ever wise voice. She knew she couldn't keep up the façade for too long.

"It's nothing." She muttered over the evening meal, seeing Rosa and Cecil's eyes meet and pass a message between them.

"Rydia, I know that something occurred between Edge and yourself." Cecil said more forcefully. She said nothing, but avoided eye contact like her life depended on it. She could feel Rosa's sapphire eyes burning holes in her scalp.

"Don't worry Rydia, he'll be here soon."

A silence settled over the two some time later after Rosa had been called away on an emergency - apparently the life of a white mage never let up, not even if you were the queen-to-be.

"Are you nervous for the wedding?" She asked curiously. Cecil hadn't shown a lick of nerves but Rosa was fidgeting in every spare moment when she thought they couldn't see - and the wedding was still a week away.

"No, I love Rosa - I always have. This wedding is just for our love to be seen in the eyes of others as it is seen by us. Love is not something that should ever be given up on, Rydia." She gave him a weak half smile. Perhaps he was right.

Perhaps soon, whatever the two of them had wouldn't be over forever.

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><p>C'est fini! I hope you liked it. Again, this is the first of four, progressing (kind of) one shots. So stay tuned for more!<p>

Please leave a review/favourite if you liked it, and I'll see you later.


	2. 002 Hate

_**Disclaimer: I don't own this series. Wasn't that obvious?**_

_Bonjour! Here's number two. I haven't got much to say so... Enjoy!_

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><p><em><span>002. Hate<span>_

God! I just hate - no, abhor! - the way that he acts sometimes. It's more the fact that every time he says something stupid I just have to stop for a few minutes and wonder what on the Blue Moon goes through that beautiful head to make him think that that was actually _okay_ _to say_! Does he really think that he can just walk around everywhere doing whatever he wants, _saying_ whatever he wants, and that no one would even think to _complain_ about him? Has he even a shred of common sense? Does he even have a brain in his stupid, silver, shiny haired, handsome, head?

See - I hate him. I can't even focus on how much I hate him because, well... Everything! Clearly! his brash ego, his bad sense of humor, his... his...

He's so obnoxious! I can't even believe that he'd do this! Lord! Of all the things on the Blue Planet he could've done, he surprises me with this!? Really? I have too many things to think about as it is, and those piercing grey-green, mysterious eyes really aren't helping the whole blushing ordeal.

I can't even think about anything right now... It's just too much! I now know exactly how the Giant of Bab-il felt when he short circuited. It was a he, wasn't it?

What possessed him to think that this was actually, you know, a _good_ idea? Well, perhaps it is, I'm just way over reacting. If he weren't being so god damn sensitive right now, he'd probable chastise me for thinking far too much into this for what it's worth, and nudge me with those strong, tanned arms, and wink with that shine in his eyes like he'd never really dare to hurt me because I'd call down Bahamut on him. And I really would - it's true - I'm sure Bahamut would have no qualms about complying. He never really took to Edge. Go figure.

But no, oh no. He can't just be his usual, way too relaxed, happy-go-lucky self. Of course not. Because that would be too easy. Clearly.

I can't think about something as huge as this now! I was busy in the Feymarch, getting to know all the... _walls_ really well? Who am I kidding - I've been bored out of my mind for a while, but this isn't just something he can spring on me like this! This is something that needs to be premeditated, not just thrown out like its nothing. I didn't even catch him at first, it's only when he stopped talking and then I realised exactly what it was he had said.

"Rydia, do you want me to go?" His expression is far too guarded and blank. His eyes are like blank slates of stone and his mouth looks like its set in stone too under the purple mask. Something's wrong and, oh Lord, it's all my fault, isn't it? I had been sitting there for a long while, and my mouth was still slightly open? So lady like.

I gave a small, pitiful, weak little smile, and shook my head no. Probably should've said yes. Probably should've run away by now and lived the rest of my life out as a goat in Mount Ordeals. Who knows - maybe I'll find Kain while I'm at it and he'll ask me why I'm suddenly an animal, and I'll say 'Oh, well Edge suddenly asked me to be his Queen of Eblan and I panicked and ran away because I can barely look after myself, never mind be a queen, and then I'll get pressured into having children and I'm technically only fifteen!'. And then Kain would probably kick me off his mountain because, you know, it's his moping space and clearly I'd have to go and find my own mountain to goat around on. Or maybe he'd tell me that I should become the Queen... Yeah, like _I _should ever be put in charge of anything, let alone looked up to! Neither should Edge, now I think about it... Anyway, I can barely keep my mind straight - I mean look at me now! It's not like I haven't had reoccurring dreams about this before, so why Lord, why am I going crazy now of all times?

Don't get me wrong, I love Edge, and if he were just another summoner in Mist, I would be married to him in a heart beat, but I've seen Rosa lately, and my Lord does she look tired. She looks like one of those zombies that Kain's probably good friends with. Come to think of it, that's a horrible thought! I do not want to think of Kain and his Zombies ever again! Ew. Gross.

Where was I? Ah, yes, Edge's sudden proposal. I am even awake? If this is just one of those weird dreams again then I won't even try to hold back on the next person who annoys me! It would be devastating. But then again, is that my subconscious telling me something?

Maybe it doesn't matter about the whole queen thing though. Maybe I should just go through with it anyway. Hadn't Rosa and Edward once been talking, saying something about how 'it doesn't matter who you love nor why, but how you act on it'? Probably. And as usual, they were probably right. But then again, I've never been one to fit into normal - and neither has Edge - and that seemed like pretty normal advice. Even so, I have this gut feeling that they were right. Usually my gut's right, but who knows? I could just not be feeling well.

Perhaps this is a good idea, but Lord knows really. I mean, look at Rosa - two years married and already a mother. A zombie mother. Sounds like fun! Little Ceodore is cute, but I really hope for his sake he doesn't have a lisp.

"So, what do you say?" He asked me. oh God, the sun's almost going down! Have we really been here for that long? Or maybe it's just another weird Eblan thing where sometimes days are just shorter. And the way the sunlight hits him right now... God I'm a lucky girl! Until, of course, he opens his mouth and says something outrageously obnoxious.

Taking a one last calming breath, I looked directly into his hopeful eyes, and with a wobbly voice, I squeaked out one word that perhaps in the future I'd look back and regret intensely.

"Yes."

Goodbye Feymarch walls and the books I've read five thousand times. You'll be... _missed_.

He laughed and pulled me tightly into his arms, spinning me around - much to my surprise - my yellow formal dress swaying gently in the wind, and I had never been so glad that I'd tied up my hair - hair can sometimes really be a moment killer.

"You know Edge, I hate you sometimes." I smiled at him, loathe to let him go after he'd placed the subtlety shimmering ring on my finger, which seemd to weigh much more heavily than it should've.

He laughed again, understanding the meaning behind my words in a way that only he could. "I love you too."

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><p><em>And there you have it! I hope you enjoyed it - it wasn't too serious, I was just a little bit stumped for this one. So naturally, I decided to look at what would happen if a mentally-young-but-physically-not-Rydia was asked a life changing question that she only had a teenage mindset for. And this happened! Not the most eloquent of works, but there we go. <em>

_Let me know if you liked it by reviewing/favouriting please, and I'll see you soon. Thanks!_


	3. 025 Heaven

**Disclaimer: I don't own this game. Do I _have_ to put that at the beginning of _every_ chapter? Oh well, as long as I don't get sued! That would be particularly detrimental to the whole 'university' plan...**

_Okay, third one-shot! Enjoy!_**  
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><p><em><span>025. Heaven<span>_

_Edge thought he knew what heaven was, back then._

Before all of this, when he was still just the prince of Eblan and everything was as it should be, Edge lived a life that anyone could aspire to. He could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted. He could have any and all of the women he wanted, and they'd all swoon at the chance to be with him. He could train whenever he wanted, with whomever he wanted. The only draw back, he supposed, to this heaven was that he had to study occasionally, go to sporadic meetings and he occasionally fought with his brother and sisters. But no matter, they were only small draw backs compared to the heaven he lived in. Surely, this could last forever.

_Apparently not._

Before he knew it, the castle was in flaming ruins around him; his parents whisked away – presumed to be dead – and he was king. But frankly, being king didn't matter one bit to him, not if he couldn't find the man, no – _beast_ – responsible for this: Rubicante. That man shrouded in flames as hot and eternal as Edge's anger seemed. He didn't care for anything, only to find that beast, and kill him. He only just stopped himself to check if the remaining citizens were alive and well, like the king he suddenly was. But speech sounded foreign and tasted bitter on his tongue. He rushed through the tunnels, his memory blurred together until it was only him, and the man cloaked in flames towering above him. And despite his very best efforts, he was still humiliated by the creature who whisked himself away in flames like a new-born phoenix. He thought he was going to die then, on the cold, rough floors of the Eblanian Caves. He thought that he would be re-joining his parents and siblings and somehow, he was glad. Eblan was all but lost now anyway, and the citizens were barely living as it was. Perhaps it was for the best.

_But then they strolled into his life._

The party of four that hovered over him with eyes full of curiosity and a little bit of confusion, like he was a small bunny rabbit to be observed.

"Are you all right!?" The man with the strange long, bluish hair inquired with a voice that seemed just a little bit too feminine to be taken as a threat.

Edge scoffed and rolled his eyes as best as he could in his current state. "I lost, and he got away. Of course I'm not all right!" He tried to prop himself up on one arm, but failed miserably. Were they just going to leave him there? That blonde woman looked like a mage, what with that maternal look in her eyes. All mages were maternal, that much he knew.

"We came to find Rubicante, too, and the Crystals he holds." The voice from behind him said. A young girl perhaps, and tired; very tired.

"Rubicante's mine! You stay out of this! I'm going to put an end to him with...with my own hands!" Edge's temper was still as hot as the underground was rumoured to be. He didn't need others taking his vengeance from him, now of all times! It wouldn't only shame him as an Eblanese ninja if he didn't avenge his parents, but also stain his reign before it even began! He had to, no he _needed_ to do this.

"Your enemy is an elemental archfiend, Your Highness." So this man – a dragoon from how he looked – knew he was royalty. How exactly did he know that? And how did he know the right title exactly? He was still a prince after all, not yet a king, not until the Seneschal found him and forced the crown on his head. This man clearly knew more than he let on. And he clearly also liked to state the obvious.

"You've seen his strength for yourself."

Edge bit back a sharp retort, instead settling for simply acting somewhat normally around these people. They didn't seem to be too harmful, not to him anyway. "Heh...Don't mistake me for some pampered prince. The Eblanese royal family is heir to the secrets of the ninja masters of old. I don't need help from lesser men!"

"Enough!" Edge turned to the voice from behind him, and was startled by what he saw. Edge had seen beauty in his life, many times over, but this woman – she was different. The way her jade green hair fell in enticing waves about her, and the shiny hazel eyes; her unblemished skin and her body itself… she was Edge's idea of a perfect woman, and she seemed to have the makings of a personality to match, firey and hot.

"I can't watch another person go off to die. First Tellah and Yang...And then Cid, too...All of them...all of them-!" Her tired eyes shone with tears, only seeming to amplify her beauty in a way that gave Edge an over powering desire to comfort her in any way he could.

"H-hey, I didn't...I mean..." Edge could tell he was losing control over the rational and speech parts of his brain, and quickly – especially if she kept looking like that. So naïve – the paradigm of innocence, it seemed - soft and unblemished by the world.

"Rydia..." So that was her name. An exotic name to match an exotic woman. He imagined the word just rolling off his tongue.

She sniffled, her small, reddened nose twitching and her eyes losing their tears but retaining some of look sadness as her blonde friend comforted her with all the right words - he said that mages are maternal.

"Rubicante is the strongest of the four archfiends." The white haired man declared quite suddenly, taking his focus away from the two women. "Whether we can even hope to defeat him, I cannot say. But we have no choice. We must take back the Crystals he holds!" So they were looking for the crystals…? Perhaps if he joined them, then he could have a hope of saving Eblan _and _avenging his parents and kingdom.

With an overly dramatic sigh, Edge decided his course of action. Like he had a choice when a pretty woman was involved. "...It doesn't look like I have much choice. I can't leave a pretty girl crying. Let's do this together, then - just this once." He tried to stand but failed miserably, his legs too weak to support his weight, which promptly collapsed beneath him rather un-dignifiedly.

"Hmph. Too weak to stand, and still as arrogant as could be. It's nigh on comical." Edge could already tell that he and this dragoon would get on like a fox and a hare. "Rosa, do you think you could...?" He gestured to Edge whilst looking at the blonde lady, inadvertently giving him her name. She was most _definitely_ a white mage, with a name as pure as that and an outfit as white as she had. That, and her aura just exuded white magic. So did the feminine man too, and that girl - she had a magic like no other he'd ever felt. It intrigued him.

"Cura!" And thank the lords for white magic, too. Edge could feel his burns healing up, his face becoming smooth once more and unmarred under the lilac silken mask. He finally was ready, leaping to his feet with his cat-like agility and readjusting his katanas in their holsters for good measure.

"Thank you, my dear! You're not so rough on the eyes yourself!" He said with a wink that he couldn't help. Old habits die hard. "Right, then! Time for us to break into the tower, now that we're all fast friends!"

The green haired woman – Rydia – scoffed and folded her arms, turning away from his examining gaze. "That was an awfully fast recovery." A beautiful face and a sharp mind to match? Could she get any better?! And despite the loss of his parents and siblings still being a raw wound that hurt so terribly to even think about and the irrational fear of fire he would most likely develop, Edge couldn't help but wonder if he'd been thrown out of one heaven, only to blindly stumble into another. Another called Rydia.

_That is, until one of them left._

It must've been only a mere three weeks after they'd met that the dragoon, Kain, had turned tailed and fled to Golbez's side like the coward he truly was. Edge was right to keep an eye on him, and also about the fact that they wouldn't get along – which they really didn't. He could feel the hard stares that Cecil gave him every time he questioned Kain every time that he declared something in that monotone voice, but Edge was right in the end. If he hadn't have picked up on how utterly heartbroken Cecil and Rosa were after Kain's defection, he would've said 'I told you so'. But then he also would've risked Rydia's wrath. Rydia, who was so fickle and feisty and witty and beautiful and exotic and too far out of his reach. She was everything and more that Edge could ask for, but she was also just too clever for any of his usual tricks to work. So he started trying to win her over with just his normal self. He told her about Eblan and his life before all of this. He told her of his younger sisters and brothers who'd been killed with Eblan's fall, and they'd all witnessed what monstrosities his parents had been mutated into. And slowly but surely, she was coming around. That was, of course, until they fought in Mysidia.

"All I am saying is that you don't have to go. It's dangerous!"

"What, like the Sealed Cave and the Giant of Babil weren't? Why are you even bringing this up? Cecil doesn't care about Rosa going, so why should you care about me going?" She shouted back, gesturing wildly in her anger and that flame had begun to alight in her eyes. She'd started to walk away from him as soon as he offered that she could stay behind, and they'd ended up arguing through the entire city of Mysidia, garnering much attention from the local mages and other such citizens. And now here they were, on the hills outside the city in the time just between twilight and night.

To be honest, Edge wasn't sure why he'd brought it up. It was more one of those thoughts that'd slipped past his senses and out of his mouth. She'd come to his room claiming boredom, and they'd been talking about something inconsequential – about the relationships between Eidolons – when he'd said it. And in that moment, her entire attitude had polarised. There'd been a deep hurt in her eyes that was quickly replaced by a sad nothingness, before she'd left and he'd followed, trying to amend his mistake, not even noticing when they passed Cecil and Rosa who looked at each other with that knowing look that they sometimes did.

Perhaps he was just scared? Scared of losing her. He did care for her after all, more than he'd like to admit to, and losing another person that he cared for so soon after the rest of his family was just unbearable to even think about. "I just don't want you to get hurt." A lame excuse, he knew, but he hoped she'd bite and this could all just be over with.

"And I don't want you to get hurt! I don't want Cecil to get hurt, and don't want Rosa to get hurt and I don't want Kain to get hurt! I don't want anyone to get hurt, but sometimes things just happen Edge." He'd only seemed to anger her more as she walked over to a tree stump near to where the forest began to get denser, and huffed; folding her arms and closing her eyes as the sweet little crease between her eyes got deeper. What he would pay to get a glimpse of what goes on in her mind.

Perhaps honesty really was the best policy after all. Although, who said that the truth couldn't be fabricated just a little bit and still be honesty? "I mean I really couldn't stand it if you, _just you_, were to get hurt."

She opened her eyes but the angry downturn of her lips and eyebrows didn't go away. But she did relax somewhat and her arms dropped to her lap. "I know. And I'll be fine, you treat me like a child too much."

So that's what it was. Well, she was right to an effect, Cecil and Rosa did still tend to see her as the seven year old that Edge never knew. He strolled over to her, sitting on the tree stump that was twinned with hers, but she refused to look in his eyes. "I'm sorry." There, he'd said it. And now there was no way she could make him feel guilty for not apologising later.

"You'd better be." She threatened with a pout but the crease between her eyes lessened and she was no longer frowning. Her pink lips looked so soft in the moonlight, the way the light reflected off of her as a whole made her look like the ethereal creature she was, but her lips had never looked so appealing to him before.

He looked up to her hazel eyes and he didn't realise that she'd been staring at the moon the whole time. Perhaps she was wondering what it would be like up there? Either way, Edge leaned in closely, and captured her lips in his, almost wanting to laugh at the way her eyes widened in shock, and how he felt her skin heat up with a blush after he placed his hand on her cheek. It turns out she was as soft as he'd always imagined from the moment they met, and her lips tasted like the sweetest apples and something else that was unidentifiable, but made him hungry for more.

When they'd run out of breath, and Edge was still hungry for more, breaking the damn of celibacy he'd chosen, he stopped when he looked into her eyes. They were still wide from shock, and her breaths were heavy. In the back of his mind, he realised that he'd just stolen her first kiss, and he felt some guilt over it: he'd just stolen a kiss from her after they'd argued and she probably wanted to stay away from him. Yet there was something else in her eyes apart from the shock; perhaps fear, anxiety, some joy and… lust? It couldn't be – this was Rydia! But it was Rydia with the fire within her who leaned in and kissed him once more with a bounty of passion.

_Then he was sure he knew heaven._

Not much more than three years later however, he was proved wrong once more. Even though Edge disliked wearing the regal navy shirt and trousers, and he thought he gold shoulder plates were far too heavy; he disliked the red cape, and the long, grey-blue material he'd been given to use as his mask took him more than half an hour and the assistance of Izayoi to tie, he still wore it because frankly, nothing could stop him from being here on this day. Not even five Marlboros – although he wouldn't bank on turning up as a human after fighting them.

He thought he'd known heaven before, but seeing her in the long white dress that did her all the right favours, and the veil covering her face ever so slightly made him rethink that. She seemed to float down the long aisle of Eblan's main church, with Cecil standing proudly next to her. Nothing seemed to matter in that moment, only her. He didn't miss the blush spread over her cheeks, nor the way she averted her eyes and her smile flickered like she did when she was nervous. He felt just like her too – he probably couldn't shoot a bull's eye right now – but he wouldn't swap it for anything. When Cecil placed her smaller hands into his slightly larger ones, and they turned to face the priest, he knew this was exactly right, and nothing else could ever replace it. And when all of the vows were said, and he finally got to kiss her, he knew that nothing else could ever replace her in his life, nothing at all. That feeling he knew would never change – not an hour later when she was now his queen standing beside him; not in the future when their daughter had more siblings to play with; not ever.

_Because she was his heaven._

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><p><em>Hey, if you didn't notice it then the italicised sentences make one thing all together: <strong>Edge thought he knew what heaven was, back then. Apparently not. But then they strolled into his life – that is, until one of them left. Then he was sure he knew heaven, because she was his heaven.<strong> I was too proud when I thought of doing that :D_

_Just me who thought of Edge as having more siblings? He didn't seem like an only child to me, but you could go either way I suppose. Eh, whatever. Oh and I've never been to a wedding, so I've no idea how long they take, it's just that people my age always said they're long and boring. So I was like a wedding and a coronation combo ceremony? Let's say an hour!_

_Please leave a review/favourite if you liked it, follow for more updates, and I'll see you later! Thanks!_


	4. 004 Joy

_**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters/anything apart from the idea of the vague plot (and my OCs, of course)  
><strong>_

_I'm back with another one shot. This is the final one out the original set I did for this pairing, so any others won't be in chronological order/ follow the same vague plot ideas. This one... Perhaps a bit repetitive, but you can judge for yourselves. Enjoy!  
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><p><em><span>004. Joy<span>_

Nothing could compare with the joy he was feeling now. This small bundle in his arms, this new creature for which he could take credit, was surely the most wonderful thing known to man. The little tufts of silver hair coloured with purple and the wide, innocent hazel eyes were surely the most beautiful in the world. They were the most beautiful he'd ever seen, bar his wife's. Now he understood what Cecil had said before, when Ceodore had been born: 'nothing in the world can quite prepare you for the feeling you get when you hold your child for the first time.' He'd laughed Cecil off then, called him out for exaggerating; but now, now he knew. He knew the earth shattering joy and he'd felt the time stopping awe that this one tiny blank slate of a person had brought him. And he knew that he'd do what ever he could to protect her from the wrongs of the world. Hitomi would be her name - for her ingenuous eyes.

He'd thought he would be prepared when his son was born - he thought he knew already what the feeling of joy was, but he was wrong, again. It was quite different having a son, this was the beginning of the man he would raise to the best of his ability, and the man he would one day place the trust of his Kingdom in. He didn't want to protect this child, he wanted to train him, to guide him, and let him protect himself as much as he'd allow. He could already envision the bright future he hope this baby would have; of the pride this little boy would bring him and Rydia. That this small baby, with the beginnings of still hair tinged with green and hazel eyes like those of his sister, would become a young man that he'd be proud to have fathered - not matter where his life took him. That was a joy he was indescribably glad to know. He would be Hiro - for the grandfather he'd never see.

He hadn't been prepared for the birth of his second daughter. They'd expected a son, so when a daughter with indigo hair dark as night and the brightest of turquoise eyes had been born, he'd been surprised. She was a strange child - quiet, not crying, not whimpering. She didn't make a sound, and that was one of the most terrifying moments of his life - the moment they weren't sure if she lived. But here she was, as restful and docile as ever, looking up with those inquisitive turquoise eyes. She'd be nothing like her sister - loud and full of the joys of spring - nor like her brother: restless and over-confident (something he begrudgingly took credit for). No. She'd been as quiet as a winter's morning and as beautiful as the first firefly hovering on a summer's eve landscape. Thinking of the bright future she'd have as the third in line to the throne and the freedom it would bring her filled him with joy; she'd know a life of freedom, love and happiness. And knowing that she'd have a life so different to his brought him an unimaginable amount of joy. She'd be named Hotaru - for the light bringing fireflies that gathered on the day she was born, in the heat of midsummer.

His second son had be born exactly on at the time predicated - down to the last second. He'd been ushered into the world with every bit of practice he'd been used to. And yet the feeling that washed over him had him feeling as unprepared as ever, like when he faced down Rubicante over half a decade ago. He was a small little thing - smaller than his brother and sisters - but the large, lucid green eyes that stared up at him and the light purple hair tufted on his head more than made up for his size. He looked to take after him, not Rydia, to his dismay, but with a rounder, chubbier face. He looked ready for a lively life, he kicked and cried with a vitality like no other. But the most amazing thing about this son was the incredible life surrounded by a large family (that was something neither he nor Rydia had known they had wanted) that he'd be able to live. He'd know the feeling of sibling love and endure the wrath of sibling fights when they inevitably came. And the fact that he'd never know loneliness so long as he was with his family? That was a joy that could never be measured. He was named Haru - for the fresh, spring-like, leaf green in his eyes.

Their last daughter had been born amidst a dark storm that had their daughters in tears and their sons shaking despite their protests. The rain had battered the stones for hours and the thunder never seemed to stop. Yet their daughter was a ray of sunshine in their life. Her hair was almost pure white with a tinge of fresh green, and her eyes were the colour of newly grown leaves; even from birth she seemed to be smiling. Despite the raging of the winds and the flaying of the rain, none of it mattered when he held this ray of sunshine in his arms. She would be the youngest in their large family, and she'd know the eternal surrounding of siblings and the constant doting she'd inevitably get as the baby of the family. And like with all his daughters, he knew he'd protect her from the world at any cost - even with his life. But some how he felt it more keenly with this daughter, perhaps because she was his baby, and he'd love her as that until the end of their lives, even when she was a grown woman. The joy at holding his baby was unimaginable and indescribable; it harkened back to the words Cecil had first told him: 'nothing in the world can quite prepare you for the feeling you get when you hold your child for the first time.' He'd been right then, and he was still right all these years later. She was named Hina - for the sunshine she was in their lives.

When Cuore had been brought home for the first time, he didn't quite know what to think. Of course, like all of his children, he loved her unconditionally - through thick and thin - yet there was something to be said for argument that she was almost obnoxiously different from any other five year old in existence. He worried how his other children would react to her - she looked more like Rydia than any of their children, despite not being born of her. Would they be jealous? Would they feel as though Cuore was depriving them of some of the love their parents gave them? All he knew was that he was surprised when his sons first saw her, they didn't care because she was 'another girl', and that his daughters only wanted to play with her, even if his oldest daughter was already eighteen. His surprise, however, soon melted away into pride, and joy. Joy because they'd saved Cuore from a life of being an outcast, as some 'other' to be looked down upon because she was too clever for many to handle. And a joy because despite all the reservations their friends had had, Cuore was becoming another daughter to him, even if she'd been born artificially, intended as a clone of his wife, and they'd missed the first five years of her life. But she would always be the final member of their joyous family. She was named Cuore - for all the joys of spring that she was.

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><p><em>Just me who thought the name 'Cuore' was taken from the Roman version of Persephone, the Greek goddess of Springwife of Hades? Apparently it's taken from the Latin word for heart (seems legit), but I prefer the former reason... even if her name really was Kore. Can we go for translation differences? Eh. Anyway, just a bunch of OCs here. It's Edge-centric, by the way. Did I say that in it? Oh well. Anyway, I'll see you next time! _

_As for the names:_

_Hitomi - Beautiful Pupil (like the eye... it's a difficult one translation-wise)_

_Hiro - I'm gonna use it as meaning 'wide' here, because I like that symbol more than the other ways you can write it!_

_Hotaru - Firefly. It's a pretty name (I think)_

_Haru - Spring (like the season, although as in bouncy would be a funny name :D)_

_Hina - like Sunny, but kinda. You write it like 'sun' and 'green/vegetable'... so it's like sun, or sunlight._

_Cuore - well... we've established that!_

_Alliteration because... because I can!_

_Please leave a review/favourite to let me know if you liked it, and I'll see you later. Thanks!_


	5. 047 Bed

_So I was playing The After Years, and then I saw this quote: "Thanks to Rydia, Cecil, and that young man who sneaks in here sometimes, we couldn't feel more secure now." (Said by an old lady in Mist, I do believe). And then I saw the second bed in Rydia's house. (seriously, why is that there? It's not like you can go back with Cuore or anything...) So naturally, I got the idea for this thingy-ma-bob. It doesn't fit in with the first four, it's like an AU within my own mind. I just liked how it turned out. Enjoy!_

**Disclaimer: I don't own this game.**

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><p><em><span>047. Bed<span>_

She heard that he was here before she saw him. It was the same thing every time; he'd wander around the village causing all the women to twitter like birds and the men to become skeptic, and she'd be anticipating him the moment he knocked in the door, a mere pace back from the shabby, hastily made wooden door, as always.

"Edge."

"Rydia."

She could never resist the urge to laugh after their eternally used greeting. Ever since the first time he'd come here and she hadn't been anticipating him, when she'd said his name with such incredulity that he just couldn't restrain himself from repeating her name in the same tone, they had greeted each other in the same way - if not in the same tone.

She stepped aside and he entered her house and made himself at home - although he'd been here regularly enough that he knew where she kept what in her cupboards.

"Food? Water?" She asked nonchalantly - not out of nicety, but out of habit.

"I'm fine, thanks." He sat lazily in a chair in her kitchen. He hadn't changed much in the five years they'd known each other now. Sure, he wore more formal clothes now that he was king - something Rydia was painfully aware of - but he looked the same, mask and all. She'd never actually seen what was under his mask, of course, even after all these years.

"So," Rydia sat in the chair facing him across the table, nursing a warm mug of tea, and not sitting half as slobbishly as Edge - the irony of which was not lost on her, "what brings you here this time?"

"Oh you know, they threatened to marry me off again so I came here." Edge rattled off boredly, tracing the embroidered pattern of the table cloth.

Rydia sighed, frowning slightly, which piqued Edge's attention. They'd been trying to marry him off more and more frequently recently. And it was worrying her, as much as she didn't want to admit it.

"Don't worry Rydia, they can't make me do anything. I'm King, remember." He gave her a wink and what she assumed was a grin to which she scoffed and rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile a bit. It was such a far cry from when they'd first met - when she though he was just an arrogant, naïve prince who wouldn't be able to protect himself if he tried - despite his obviously muscled structure. How wrong she was.

"Yes well-" Edge raised his eyebrows at her and she raised her arms in surrender. There was no winning this one.

"Any one tried to make any moves on you recently?" He inquired coyly with a mischievous smirk.

"How could they?" She replied incredulously. "You beat the last person to such a pulp I wasn't even sure my Hi Potions would be enough! I was considering sending him to Rosa."

Edge grinned, like he'd been expecting this all along. Of course he had - he'd beaten every man (or boy) who'd dared to get 'too friendly' with her, and no one had come near her since. She wasn't _complaining_ per say, more that if they found out he was King Edge of Eblan, it wouldn't go down too well for him. Or her.

Speaking of which. "How's Ebaln?" She said over the rim of her mug, sipping the watery, steaming, brown liquid inside.

Edge scrunched his face slightly at the fact she had tea - he'd declared he hated it the first time he drank it - but raised an eyebrow in that annoying, cryptic way like he knew something you didn't before answering. "Well. I'm unmarried, not a zombie, and in one piece, if that's any indication." He joked and she rolled her eyes again. He always had this way of making her laugh, no matter what with his bad sense of humour.

"I'm glad to see it. I would've hated it if just your arm came for a visit next time." She rolled her eyes and took another sip before setting the mug down on the table with remarkably steady hands.

"Are you _sure_ that's the body part you want to visit next time?" He waggled his eyebrows suggestively and she began to form a low-level ice spell in her hand, the frost swirling together, before he flinched and raised his arms in surrender, backing away considerably.

They sat in silence for a while - not the awkward one that blankets the air and suffocates you, but the thin one that gives all the time to think and appreciate their company.

"Have you been to the Feymarch?" He asked lowly, not daring to meet her eyes. He knew the answer already in his heart, and could tell by the way she froze momentarily, before shaking her head and looking deeply into her mug.

"They said they'd send word when I could visit." She looked into his eyes with a veil of sadness over the hazel hue. "It's been two years already, Edge - six years since I left my home there. I miss my parents." She whispered with a waver in her voice. He reached across the table and covered her smaller hands with his. They'd often had conversations like this - of the shared loss of their parents. They both had a whole in their hearts from the loss of parents - whether dead or estranged - from which they were still healing. He still flinched at open flames on occasion, and she still looked into open water, hoping to see Leviathan. Together, perhaps, they would heal each other's hearts.

They stayed like that for hours, way past the time the sun finally gave into sleep and slipped beyond the curvature of the blue planet. The candles were running low and the moon was the only guiding light outside when they noticed. It always ended up like this, they were so wrapped up with their company that they didn't both to ever check for time.

"I take it you'll stay tonight?" She asked, already knowing the answer.

"If that's still fine with you, I mean the inn's across the-"

"Edge. When have I not been fine with you sleeping in my house?" Rydia asked with the ghost of a nervous laughter.

Edge opened his mouth to contradict that, but failed to give her an answer. Well, he failed to give her an answer that wouldn't end up in frostbite.

He removed his boots by the door as always, before untangling the mass of fabric that he considered a top. Rydia had stopped trying to argue that a while ago. He always insisted on sleeping in his trousers instead of letting Rydia get him some _actual_ pajamas, like she'd offered more times than she could count on her hands. That too was something she'd stopped trying to argue a while ago. He never removed his mask though, and she never asked. Yet as always before they slept, they kissed. And not just a peck either - but a passionate kiss that left her wide awake for longer than she tried to let on afterwards too. But she never saw his face, and when she'd asked, he said that 'a ninja's face was only revealed to their wife and children.' She tried not to think about it since then.

But tonight, when she came out of the bathroom and was about to tell Edge he could use it, she was stopped dead. The ever present purple cloth was gone. And instead she finally saw the face underneath. Sharp cheek bones and a strong jaw, with a somewhat small nose and that ever smirking mouth. Of course it was smirking now. Of course he was smirking at her probably rude gawking - but that was the least of her worries. He was more handsome than she'd seen in the dreams she'd never admit to.

She moved her mouth several times in an effort to speak but she couldn't - her mouth and throat were just too dry.

"Yes, Rydia?" He asked, almost laughing. She closed her eyes and heaved a sigh, but she could feel her cheeks growing ever redder.

"You can use the bathroom now."

When she opened her eyes, he was considerably closer than before, and his steel eyes swirled with untold amounts of emotions she couldn't even begin to unpick. And frankly, there were more pressing issues at hand than to stare gormlessly into his eyes

"I don't think that's what you intended to say, is it, Rydia?" He asked with that smirk - the omnipresent smirk!

Rydia had nothing to say to that - she didn't even know what to say! She slowly shook her head horizontally, licking her suddenly dry lips.

"Thought not." He practically muttered, shocking her back into reality with his know-it-all, smart-arse comment.

"Why the lack of mask?" She asked as coolly as she could muster. At least she wasn't tomato hued now. It was something.

"Well, you know, it gets kind of stuffy under there..." He drawled boredly.

She narrowed her eyes at him, folding her arms and pursing her lips.

"Okay, fine." He held his arms up, giving up the bravado. Now that she could see all of his face, he did look slightly more apologetic when he did that.

"Why?" She repeated curtly. Somehow, it gave her more satisfaction to be able to actually _see_ him swallow with what she assumed was nerves.

"Do you remember what I told you, about Ninja and masks?" He asked. Rydia remembered the statement exactly, and she'd tried hard not to think about it, but it never ceased to fade.

"Yes." She tried hard not to read anything into his darting eyesight.

"So what can you infer about this situation from that statement?" Choose him to use fancy words now! She knew exactly what she could infer, and honestly, it terrified her. It's not like she hadn't had dreams about this kind of stuff happening before, it's just that it had been in a year or two, and there weren't any real repercussions. It was just a nice dream.

"A lot. Clearly." She knew what she thought he might be inferring, but she wanted to hear him say it.

"Rydia..." He sighed, stepping closer to her, and sitting on the edge of her bed, looking up to her.

"I want to hear you say it, Edge." She said without a hint of emotion in her voice. She was too surprised to muster up any emotion. She sat further down on her bed, facing him. She hoped the butterflies of excitement in her stomach didn't show on her face.

"I..." He began, but his voice trailed off; he looked around the room, searching for inspiration. "I'm saying, Rydia, that I want you to be my wife. I want you to be the person that I show my true self to."

She couldn't breath. There was something different about hearing him say it out loud. Something breath taking, awe inspiring and terror inducingly simple to it - how those few words began new lives and ended old ones; instigated rebirths and could be the best or worst of decisions.

"I didn't come here because the chancellor tried to marry me off again," he continued with an even voice than she rarely got to hear him speak with, but I was her favourite, "I came here because I'd made up my mind: you were better for me than any noble lady could ever be."

"Despite the fact that I know absolutely nothing about royals or Eblan or Kings and Queens or Ebalnese or-"

He put a finger to her lips, the other hand's lacing with her fingers. "Like the people they send over my way know any better. They're naïve and sheltered and as boring as a plank and nothing like you."

And she should hope not! But still, the reservations remained - and they were big.

"I love you Rydia, and I've successfully persuaded the Seneschal that I need you by my side. I want..." He paused for breath and his face became pensive, "I want to grow old with you and have children with you-"

"Woah! Edge! S-Slow down." Rydia stammered, feeling her face quickly turn violent red. It was most certainly not the soft, rosy pink that Rosa managed to exude. "I need to think about this. I need time." She stood off the bed, trying not to look into Edge's eyes. "I'll be back up later. Don't wait for me." She mumbled distractedly before leaving down the stairs and exiting the house as quietly as possible. It was such a huge decision for such a small house; she had to go. To the Mist Dragon.

Edge didn't know what to think. He couldn't even gauge an emotion from her like he usually could - there was just nothing. And even though his pessimism was telling him to just leave whilst the pain was still just beginning to set in, the little spark of hope in his chest told him to stay.

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><p>The next morning when he awoke to find Rydia's bed neatly made as always, and no sign of her, he worried. Getting dressed in ninja speed, he made his way down stairs, the cloth of his mask still in his hand, and to his immense relief, Rydia was there with a mug of that foul liquid in hand - it tasted like ashes and overbearing cinnamon to him - as calm as ever with a smile on her lips. She greeted him with a polite smile and wave over her mug, and he raised his eyebrows in a silent question, putting the lilac cloth on the table. He knew this was a risk anyway - he probably will have broken at least five important rules no doubt.<p>

She smiled coyly at him. "Yes."

He blink incredulously a few times, still not processing quite what she'd said.

"I'm sorry?" He asked, yawning as he did so.

"I said yes, genius." She chided gently. Placing her mug on the table and indicating to the cupboard above her to silently ask if he wanted a drink. He shook his head box but he still couldn't process what she'd said. If she weren't so nonchalant, then maybe her words might've held more gravity.

"Edge?" She called out with a hint of laughter in her voice. She always sounded the prettiest like that. It was his favourite. "I said yes. I'll marry you." Her lips split into a wide, smile as she watched his face morph from shock to disbelief to happiness.

"Seriously?! You'll marry me?" He asked almost too loudly, enough for Rydia to shush him between laughter, as he picked her up and hugged her so tightly she thought her ribs might break. She giggled along side him, reveling in the joy that over took them before they had to start getting to work - a queen wasn't made over night. Who thought this would've all started with another one of his 'espionage' visits to Mist?

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><p><em>Yay for random ninja rules I made up! Well, this is a scenario, I'm fairly fond of it.<em>

_Please let me know if you liked it by leaving a review/favourite-ing and I'll see you soon. Thanks!_


	6. 011 Knowledge

_**Disclaimer: I don't own this game.**_

_I'd just like to say** a big thank you to Valkyrie Celes for her lovely reviews! **I'm absolutely awful at all things communication like, but thanks so much, they were very kind! ^_^ _

_This one's kind of like expanding on back story from the last one and Edge's point of view. Kinda. I don't know, thats kind of tenuous link though :p Enjoy!  
><em>

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><p><em><span>011. Knowledge<span>_

They all knew, in Eblan. Even though it'd been years since he'd ascended and a queen was almost a requirement, not an option, at this point, they all knew about this.

Rydia had been the only one who'd really visited him. Cecil, Yang and Edward had come occasionally - they _had_ to, diplomacy, you see - and Rosa, Sheila and that stuck up lady Harley had come along too sometimes, but Rydia was the only one who'd even committed to seeing him regularly. He hadn't seen Porom or Palom in years, how old were they now? They'd still been the same, inseparable children when he'd seen them, but that must've been more than five years ago. They'd be teenagers now - almost as old as he had been when he'd met them all. Older than Rydia had been according to this world. Was Cid even alive still? That old man had a knack for working himself to the bone, as much as Edge didn't want to admit it. He even missed the old man - if he was honest with himself, Edge was lonely. The weeks in between the visits that Rydia payed made him curse that Eblan was so far removed from the rest for the world for the first time.

But Rydia was always there for him, whatever the situation.

Needless to say, it was common knowledge that Edge was nigh on infatuated with her, and had been since he'd first set eyes on her. The Seneschal had practically thrown women at him when he first got back, reminding him endlessly of the fact that his parents were married and had him and his siblings when they were young. That was still a raw wound back then. If he was honest - it still was now. Time had just scabbed it over thinly.

She'd helped though, so much. At first, she'd still been recovering too, being allowed to grieve amongst those of her own kind after eleven years of knowing the world was in danger. She almost was in a worse state than he was. On that first visit, they hadn't made it out of his chambers really. Not that they were doing anything illicit - they were just too overcome with raw emotion to process anything.

The next time she'd visited, they'd both been a bit better; they'd spent more time laughing together. Despite the funeral that was held for his parents half way through, the last time he'd seen Cid for years, and the time that Sheila's pregnancy had been solemnly announced by a serious Yang, they both were happier.

The third time she'd visited, she'd had an aura of maturity about her that she didn't have before. She'd been in the Feymarch it turns out, she was a year older. He didn't say much to her the rest of that visit. He didn't want to see her, and be reminded of the years slipping through his fingers.

The fourth time she'd visited, she'd been in tears. Her parents had banished her from the Feymarch, the citizens of Mist were pushing her to marry and the pressure had been to much. He'd comforted her and mumbled the vague lies of a bright future that he hated, for being most likely wrong. But he did it, because at the end of that day she'd smiled that wide, bright, joyful smile that he knew he'd walk to the ends of the blue planet for.

That night when he left for Mist under the blanket of stars and returned, tired beyond belief, it was common knowledge that he loved her.

After that, she was greeted as 'Lady Rydia', and the children would adore her and the women were jealous of her and the men all wanted her. She never knew it though, she didn't realise.

Not until one morning, on her visit that was far into the double digits, one small brunette little girl wear a bright red dress had bounded up to her and said:

"Lady Rydia! Please make yourself at home. I'm sure our master is delighted to have you."

Then she'd turned to him and smiled with a coy look in her eyes, and replied: "I know he is." She bent down to the little girl's level and whispered something in the girl's ear, who ran off giggling to a group of friends where sadly, Edge still couldn't hear what she said.

After that, the Seneschal stopped throwing random women at him. And the elder folk now were more obvious with their references to Mist and the summoner.

"You needn't hide it, my lord. I know you've been providing support to Mist behind the scenes."

How they all knew was beyond him. But that was the least of his worries.

He'd made numerous visits to Mist before - Rydia even kept a spare bed in her house for him. He liked to think it was for himself anyway; he couldn't bare the thought of anyone else. But before her ninetieth visit, he escaped in the night to visit her in Mist instead. He had finally decided the time was nigh, he'd made his choice. That, and the Chancellor had tried to get him engaged - to a lady from a city North West of Mysidia this time - as he occasionally still did. Every time it happened, he escaped to Mist. His trainees and the guards didn't even bother to try and stop him anymore.

Like always, she'd managed to figure out the exact second he was going to knock on her door - how she knew that was beyond him.

They talked much the same as they ways did too. There wasn't much they didn't know about each other now - not after the ten years they'd known each other. Speaking of which, he really needed to visit Ursula, and Ceodore - was it? They'd be five and six now. And he'd heard that Edward had adopted three children - he didn't know their names. Rydia did, she always knew.

"Alexandrine, Carol and..."

Edge smirked at her from under his mask. She should know this kind of thing, and she knew it. She took pride in remembering these things - the names of her friend's children. How many where there now? 6? 7? All too may in comparison with Edge's world.

"Need help there?" He asked facetiously. She waved her arm at him, telling wordlessly him to be quite as she thought, eyes as round as a new-born cat's and emitting a gentle humming sound. It was like being back at the Hummingway's home.

"Oliver!" She burst out suddenly, clicking her fingers as she did so.

"And let me guess, they're all connected to poetry or songs or something like that." He said with a wave of his wrist.

"Edge!" She reprimanded. He knew how close the two were, how Edward had lulled her to sleep with his harp so many times when she was just seven and venturing with them, despite all of his grief.

He raised his eyebrows at her in a way that silently conveyed that he knew she was holding something back.

"Okay! The girls are named after poetry forms... forms of poetry? Something like that-"

"Forms of poetry" I corrected with a smirk.

She clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. "-and the boy's named after a poet." She muttered reluctantly.

"Well, they aren't bad, per say." Edge sighed. Personally, he didn't like naming children in a theme.

"Oh really? And how would you know anything about naming children!" She mocked.

"You _are_ talking to the person who goes by a nickname, and a nickname only."

She opened her mouth to answer but found no come back. He _did_ have a point.

Later that evening, when it was too dark outside to see, they finally decided to go to bed. And that was when he asked her, in a round about way. She'd run off, claiming the need for space and he was ready to leave, but the small light of hope stayed his lurching heart.

The next morning, she agreed. He left for Eblan the next day, with Rydia in tow.

Somehow, they all knew back in Ebaln - well, his disciples and the chancellor knew. As well as that old lady and the young girl who'd came up to Rydia five years ago. She must be the same age as the twins - would they look that old too?

Within weeks they were married, but no one in Eblan was too terribly surprised. Their friends, they were terribly confused. They hadn't seen Edge in years and Rydia had stayed quiet on the subject of Edge. But no one in Eblan even flinched, and the law that allowed then to marry was passed without an objection.

He never would know how everyone in Eblan had astounding amounts of knowledge about him. Not until he took one look at Izayoi during the wedding.

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><p><em>Haha, Edge saying he doesn't like to name children in themes despite what he does (as seen in 'Joy'). I couldn't resist it. So that's just a little thing there. Oh, it was inspired by the two quotes said by neither Edge nor Rydia, the old woman and the young girl (you can find them in Eblan after you've dealt with an Eidolon in Eblan in the final tale). And if you hadn't noticed, this in a different timeline to some of the others.<br>_

_Please leave a review if you liked it, follow for updates, and I'll see you soon! Thanks!_


	7. 033 Fire

_**Disclaimer: I don't own this game.**_

**_Thanks to Valkyrie Celes for another lovely review!_ **_I'm really glad you liked Edge's perspective on it, I thought it might be interesting to see the two different views. And **thank you for your lovely praise! **_

_Bonjour! Here's another I thought of, I hope you like it! It's unrelated to any others (although perhaps 'Joy' a bit...? Perhaps?). Hope you like it. Enjoy!  
><em>

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><p><span><em>033. Fire<em>

"Now, picture heat in it's purest form."

Leonora closed her eyes and her face scrunched up in concentration.

"Think about the hottest day you've ever experienced, and how hot if felt on your skin. Think about the last time you got blasted with a Flare spell."

Leonora began to mutter the words, like an alexandrine, for the incantation, the cave growing ever hotter as her words became more frenzied, her blue-clothed arm held out but she still dared not open her eyes.

Suddenly, a fireball erupted from her finger tips, it's orange glow surrounding her menacingly as the ball of flames smashed against the black, rocky wall of the cave with a protesting splutter before it died down to nothing.

"Good! You're learning! That was an excellent Firaga attempt". Rydia cried joyfully when the heat had died down so it wasn't quite as suffocating. Leonora still could've done with some less heavy clothing though, she thought.

Leonora beamed at her. You really wouldn't believe she was twenty two looking at her - she had the naïvety of a child, only emphasised further whenever Palom stalked over to her with that new found cynical attitude he had and the naivety vanished for a second before returning with a vengeance; his new personality couldn't have contrasted more to how he was when he was younger; the joking trickster Rydia remembered was really her age.

"Would you like to practice some more?" Rydia asked her, taking a seat on the flattened part of some rock the protruded from the rough wall, smoothing her shiny emerald leotard. Leonora thought it looked like Dragon's skin, with the ethereal shine.

Leonora nodded with a smile, and the room began to heat up once more as she commenced spinning the correct words again into the powerful enchantment she was practicing.

They'd been in the underground for what - four days? And it still felt as though they were making little progress. Cecil was still pitifully mindless, and several people had taken the opportunity of the warp pad to leave the lunar whale and explore the seemingly man made caves whilst those in the main party rested. Leonora had approached Rydia when she was alone, asking if she could help her with magic as Palom was busy with Porom and she didn't want to disturb them. Rydia had been quite taken aback at the shy way she asked her, as though she were interrupting Rydia's uncomfortable silence. She agreed in haste - after all, how much trouble could this be?

She was lifted from her reverie by a weak fire ball spluttering and dying before it got the wall. Leonora's face dropped; the usual smile falling as her face dropped with beads of sweat. She'd shed the outer coat of her clothes, and the hat, giving her body some space to breath. She was actually a very thin girl, fragile almost, she reminded Rydia of a younger Rosa - beautiful, with long, thick blonde hair and lucid blue eyes; a daintily featured face and unmarred skin. She was a bit jealous really, this girl was so kind and polite and naïve - qualities she hadn't even considered when she was growing up. But it was a peace time when Leonora grew up, something she'd helped usher in, and she was glad for it.

"It's okay Leonora, just take a break for a minute. Here, I have a spare Ether, I think." Rydia searched the pouch full of supplies she kept under the thin, silk skirt for that elusive ether. There - bluey green liquid in a frustratingly slippery glass container. Or maybe that was just her hands in the heat.

Leonora came to sit next to her, initially refusing the Ether on the grounds that 'she didn't want to use up vital resources', only agreeing when Rydia insisted.

"How did you learn your magic, Lady Rydia?" She asked curiously after hesitantly downing the bitter turquoise liquid.

Rydia smiled coyly to herself. She remembered learning Firaga well; they'd been in Agart, stopping by after leaving the Giant of Babil. They'd all been somewhat irate, having been cooped up in a huge machine for a week, and when they finally made it to Agart and Edge had declared that she 'could've helped more had she known stronger spells', when they were all traipsing around one night in the fields outside the village, she'd been so angry, she cast her first - and possibly most powerful - Firaga spell.

"You did, Lady Rydia?" Leonora asked agahst with wide eyes and the beginnings of a smile she tried desperately to conceal after Rydia had related the tale.

"You can laugh if you want, although he never saw the funny side of it. It took Rosa a while to rectify all the damage I'd done." She said with a mirth filled voice, eyes twinkling in amusement as she recalled it.

"What happened afterwards?" Leonora asked anxiously, like a small child waiting for the conclusion to a bed-time story.

"Well, he was angry of course. But then he just glossed over it. He only ever brings it up as black mail now."

"And what of your relationship now?" Everyone who wasn't part of the original party seventeen years ago wanted to know this, it seemed. Apparently news from Eblan didn't travel fast.

"We were married a year later." She shrugged with a nonchalant delivery. It always amused her to no end to see how people reacted to news of their marriage, no one quite seemed to know how to react to it.

"I- Y-Your majesty!" Leonora tried to do a funny little half curtesy from where she was sitting, making Rydia snort with laughter despite herself.

"Sorry," she appologised, "it's just the reactions I get have never quite been as abstract as that." She giggled helplessly, noting the figure in the archway appear through her mirth.

"Don't be so mean to Leonora, now." The voice chastised effortlessly, stepping further into the small cave. "Although you have become a better raconteur; I think last time you told this story you said 'I set him on fire.' So eloquent."

"Oh, do shut up." She quipped back as though she'd had years of practice. She had, in fairness.

"I don't quite understand... You cast a Firaga spell on him, and yet you were married not a year later?" Leonora asked, entirely confused. It was kind of cute really, how ingenuous she was. Rydia vaguely wondered if she'd be like this if she hadn't gone to the Feymarch - she as only two years older than Leonora according to the dates, after all.

"Yes well..." Rydia coughed nervously, this part was never as fun to explain.

"I knocked her up." Edge said bluntly with a noncommittal shrug, coming to rest against the adjacent wall, opposite from the huge markings of long dead fire balls.

Leonora's eyes only seemed to grow wider at the, well, _scandal_ Rydia supposed, of it all. She couldn't blame her, it wasn't really your typical story, but Edge did have a knack of saying it in a way that you were completely fine with it - you didn't even do a second take - until you thought about what had been said. It both irritated her intensely and reaffirmed her love for him.

"We have five children at home." Rydia informed with a flat tone, still staring at Edge with a look in her eyes that could only be read as 'really?'.

"Aren't they lonely at all? Both Ceodore and Ursula are here with us."

Rydia was almost taken aback at that question - only Rosa had the foresight to ask that before. They were very similar, except Leonora lacked something - something which Rydia now identified as the deep, burning fire and unbreakable will of Rosa. With time, perhaps that would be tempered in Leonora too.

"There are five of them - they'll never be lonely. And as for them not coming along - they understand that should we fall, they'll take over." Edge spoke wisely. He always seemed to do that nowadays - perhaps it was something that Rydia hadn't noticed over the years - but she appreciated it immensely. It was nice to hear him speak like the forty two year old he was sometimes.

"That, and our youngest is five, we couldn't take her along." Rydia interjected quickly. She didn't want to seem an irresponsible parent. Even if she had left them behind. She missed them all so much.

"I see. I would love to meet them one day."

"You could teach our eldest son some manners, too." Edge snorted, looking wistfully at the blank walls around him. She knew he missed them dreadfully, and she did too, although she tried not to think about it. But she had faith that they would lead Eblan dutifully in their absence. It would only make their reunion all the sweeter.

"Would you like to try again?" Rydia asked after a time of silence had passed over the three.

Leonora nodded dutifully, her blonde hair bobbing gently. Switching places with Edge who came and sat next to Rydia, she held out her hand and closed her eyes again, muttering inaudible words almost deftly until they flowed naturally.

"Now then, imagine Palom's said something really rude." Edge teased, but unknowingly, he'd catalysed the production of the biggest Firaga spell Leonora cast thus far.

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><p><em>I always thought that spells could be affected by emotions, like when you first meet little Rydia. So there we go, just a funny little story that slipped into my head. Can you tell I've been playing the after years? :p And this is kind of the fleshed out story found in Joy, as noted above. Just if you were wondering!<br>_

_Please leave a review if you liked it, follow if you want to see more, and I'll see you next time! Thanks!  
><em>


	8. 034 Help

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy**_

_**Thanks once again to Valkyrie Celes for the lovely review! **__Yeah, I'm a big fan of Leonora, she's just such a cute, pure character in a very... colourful cast! I won't say anymore because my cat's trying to walk all over my keyboard, but __**thanks so much! ^_^**_

_Eighth out of Nine people... We're getting close! This isn't really tied to any others, it's more a of a TAY based thing. So, spoilers...? If you got here and you're somehow still in the dark about the plot of TAY, then you sir, deserve a medal._

_Enjoy!_

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><p><em><span>034. Help<span>_

He thought it was the end for him. He'd thought that this time he really was going to die, up there on the highest tower in Eblan, coated in burns and scorched by his archenemy for the _second_ _time_. _The second time!_ He'd thought it was over that day. He's thought he'd never see the day when he could finally and truthfully tell Rydia how he felt, or what the future would hold for the two of them. Perhaps death would be kind to him in his dreams, but he wanted her to live on; for her to love and have a future, not for her to die in a foreign land.

"So, this is the end. Rydia... Did you make it out?"

Of course it wasn't the end, he was never allowed to die during a fight with this fire cloaked fiend, he was always saved. Rydia never was one to leave a fight she could help in, not even a hopeless one like this. She'd never run and she'd never leave him to die alone - that much he knew, not that he wanted it.

"Rydia! I told you to run!" He called out as she tossed him a potion or two at him. He yanked down his mask and quickly downed them despite their bitter taste, watching the skin knit back together and the burns fade into nothingness.

She smirked at him, looking so much like she had all those years ago, all green against the clashing amber flames. "You expected me to listen?"

He chuckled at her, pulling up his mask again - he knew he wouldn't and couldn't win this one. "Heh. It's your funeral." Their eyes met and they came to an understanding: they live or die together.

They vanquished the fiend with deft skill after realising they could fight fire with fire, dousing the master of flames in a cataclysmic storm of burning, flickering, flame-tongued licks. He'd praised the two, idly enough. Before allowing them to tame the hot-headed Eidolon of fire. He hadn't wanted to kill the beast, but if it were his kingdom or Rydia's creature friend, he'd have to put his kingdom first; it was his duty, not something to decide on a whim. After the initial shock and the haphazard climb down the burning cylindrical stone tower, she'd turned on him with that endearing fire, swriled with wild worry in her eyes, punching him in the chest lightly.

"Have you gone mad!? Challenging an Eidolon by yourself?" She growled, beating on him in worry.

He closed his larger hands over her pounding fists, calming her. "Not by myself." He didn't care who saw him now, but she made sure to let go of his hands at the appropriate time.

"Not by myself."

_I hate to admit it... But you saved my life, Rubicante._

He had done, and the mutual bond of respect - if only acknowledged grudgingly on Edge's side - had deepened once more.

And, of course, he couldn't have done it if it aren't for the help Rydia had given him. She always gave him help, no matter what the time or place.

They'd made their way to Troia next, to the kingdom covered in a thick crust if ice. Or so they thought. Upon further inspection at the castle, the ice had been to shiny, too resilient and too warm to be ice. It was diamond dust, and Rydia was devastated when she realised that.

"Come on, Rydia. Your bonds with the Eidolons aren't gonna lose to come thing like this, are they?" He tried to comfort her, warping one arm around her shoulders and holding her tightly. She sniffled and her eyes cleared of their watery contents. "...You're right. I will bring them all back!" She declared decisively with a watery smile and a hiccough in her voice.

But when they'd made their way through the strong forces of the Lodestone cavern, her resolve had wavered again.

"Shiva! It's me, Rydia!" She called out to the unresponsive Queen of Ice. The blue hued royal glared back with soulless frost coloured eyes.

"You're wasting your time, Rydia!" Edge snapped her out of her sorrowful reverie, reminding her that nothing could be done about the unwilling possession and the strong bonds she had with her creature friends. She nodded in quick thanks, before shutting her eyes tightly and conjuring intense, concentrated heat between her delicate palms, not daring to peak through her eyelids until Edge had to push her away from an oncoming onslaught. He knew she was in pain from having to do this, but he couldn't let her risk herself. He would always be there to help her, no matter the cost; all the diamond dusts in the world couldn't keep him away.

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><p><em>Yeah, so I was playing The After Years one day, and I was at this scene, when I thought 'huh. I could make this into something.' And so I did.<em>

_Please review if you liked and follow if you want more. Thanks!_


	9. 004 Toad

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy IV_**

**_Thanks to Valkyrie Celes once again! _**_Your reviews are always so sweet! :3 __They make my day, so thanks! _

_Yep, still here! Two more left after this, sadly :( Well, for me anyway. This one's just a bit drabbley; mostly dialogue driven. Oh, and uh, a couple of innuendos. Because Edge. Please, enjoy!  
><em>

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><p><span><em>004. Toad<em>

As if the hot, thick humid air and the bitter smell of campfires and monster guts pervading her nose, throat, and mouth weren't enough already. As if the fact that her leotard was sticking to her skin with sweat and humid air uncomfortably in dangerous places, and her hair having really, really seen better days weren't enough. As if the rips in her cloths and skin from the omnipresent rocks, and the never ending nature of this cave weren't enough. Of course he had to go and do this, _again_.

"Really Edge, again?" Rydia stared down at the purple toad at her feet, hands in her hips and emerald eyebrows raised. She only got a pitiful ribbit in reply.

Bending down, she sighed wearily, pulling the cure out of her supply bag. She placed the lip shaped salve on her palm, and waited for Edge to touch it and finally turn to back to his human form.

"Finally! I hate being a frog." Edge sighed when he reached his full height again, stretching his sinewy limbs and dusting off his clothes, as though he were checking that he was defiantly a human again.

"Shame, I liked you better as a frog." Rydia quipped with a mirthful smirk, before readjusting herself and standing back up.

"Oh, how you wound me." Edge mocked, swinging an arm around her shoulders casually, taking the summoner unawares.

"Yes, I prefer the dulcet tones of incessant ribbiting to that." She said dryly, rolling her eyes.

"No you don't, I know how much you love it when I _call your name_."

"Visa versa." She peered around the rocks, damn everywhere they were, and spotted the source of the thicking air - Ceodore and Ursula, the two young love birds. "Careful though, if you speak too loud, you'll scare poor Ceodore." She nodded her head to where Ceodore was sitting before the spluttering fire, Ursula suspiciously close to him.

"Oh he's so clueless. If only he were more like me." Edge observed loftily, placing his hand on his katanas out of instinct rather than anything else.

"Then she'd want nothing to do with him."

"You did." He pointed out, shifting his eyes to her green hair, picking out a stray piece of monster... something, much to both of their disgusts.

"Did I have a choice? We had a daughter together, we _had_ to make it work."

"Ah, but you did like me enough to conceive her in the first place." He pressed, grinning after recovering from his inner squeamishness.

"True."

"And we do have four other children."

"I can't fault you there." She yawned, trying to pass it off as a sigh. They both knew that she hadn't really sighed. Edge yawned too.

"So really, Ceodore would be better being like me."

"No... Nope, generally conceiving out of wedlock isn't great. _And_ they're both royalty. I mean, your Seneschal practically had a coronary and it was almost _expected_ from you."

"I meant about the romance. And we both know just how romantic I am." He grinned, leaning close to her. Close enough for her to smell the tangy smell of metal, and for him to smell the electric, burning smell of magic. They all needed baths. Maybe he'd have to persuade her to summon Shiva for them both.

"Oh Edge, if I didn't love you so much, I would've murdered you for your smart arse long ago."

"Ah, but you do like my-"

"Edge, think about the children!" She looked up at him, hazel eyes brimming with mirth and lips full with a giggle.

"What, Ceodore? Surely he must've been exposed to stuff like that before."

"I love Cecil and Rosa, but they're _Cecil and Rosa_. You'd be hard pressed to find two more holy people in the entire world."

"You raise a good point."

"So please, think of the children."

"Ah, but we are experts at making them by now."

"Edge! Half the people here don't even know that!" Rydia slapped him lightly in the shoulder to chastise him. Honestly, half the people here were so slow - they hadn't been able to tell that Edge and Rydia were even married, let alone anything else.

"True. But then again, people like Palom are too caught up in themselves."

"Or in Leonora."

"Yeah, or in her." Edge chuckled to himself. "Who would've thought that Palom would go for a girl older than himself? Although, she does look like she's about fifteen."

"Oh? And what's wrong with the age difference? We've got an age difference now." She grinned devilishly, working out her real age quickly in her head. "You do realise that I'm technically only twenty five, right? And that I had our eldest at eight?" She snickered to herself, ignoring Edge's grimace.

"Don't say that, it makes me feel like a pedophile."

"I know." She grinned to herself, linking her arm through his as they walked away from the two heirs and the fire, and deeper into the maze of tunnels - back towards most of the others. With a diversion way away from the others first, of course. For a bath, of course.

"How do you think Hitomi and Ryūko are getting on?" Edge asked with a disguised hint of anxiety in his voice.

"Fine, probably."

"Do you think it was a mistake letting them stay together? I mean we could come back and have a grandchild waiting for us and-"

"You worry too much. Besides, if anything did happen to her, Hiro would beat the living daylights out of him."

"True. Ah, what a son we've raised there. We should've brought him along, Ursula would've loved him."

"Perhaps."

"Have you seen Hotaru and that guard recently. What's his name - Nai... Nae..."

"Nao."

"Whatever, he's getting too close to her. He's only a guard too, I need to see about his posting."

"Really Edge? They'll do what they want to, you know Hotaru. She'd find him if you moved him to _Kaipo_."

"She's too young."

"I'm too young! We're all too young! But that's how it happened, and if it's anyone's faults, it's ours." Rydia threw her hands up in exasperation, and rolled her eyes at him. She couldn't suppress the grin though.

"Yeah, but-"

"I knew I loved you more as a toad, you can't argue then."

"Hey! I can't to anything to you then."

"Edge!"

"What? You know you love it really."

"Oh Edge. If I didn't love you as much, I would never put up with you."

"Ah, But you do."

"Too much."

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><p><em>I was going for more comedic this time, I hope I achieved this? I was playing the After Years one time, and I noticed how the toad sprites all have different colours, and then this happened!<em>

_Please review if you liked it and follow for more. Thanks!_


	10. 050 Flower

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy IV  
><em>**

**_Thanks so much to Valkyrie Celes for the review!_** _I'm really glad you liked the change in style; I don't often write like that, but I really enjoyed it!_

_We're onto the penultimate oneshot! Oh, that makes me kind of sad. Well, please, enjoy! _

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><p><em><span>050. Flower<span>_

_White Lilies_

It started fairly inconspicuously - I thought there was nothing strange about it at all. She visited the gardens every time she came to Eblan, and I understood - they're pretty places, filled with white lilies, her favourite, and other, brighter, flowers that can grow in an Eblanian desert. Sometimes I went with her, and we'd walk or sit in almost silence, with occasional talk as she admired the flowers and the peace and the calmness of the place.

When she came to visit for a month, she spent more time out there. I was busy around then - we still had to build up foreign alliances and Damcyan was still a wreck, even if we were fixed by then. She'd made friends with two of the ladies that were noble enough to hang around in the castle's court, but the rest alienated themselves from her. They talked about her behind her back (of course _I_ heard though), about how she was just another whore, who was clearly away with the fairies if she spent that much time with the flowers. Well, those rumours did get shut up, eventually, but it did nothing to stop how they looked at her when she sat in the gardens, serene in her peace. But I even I noticed that, when she came to visit, she spent half the time out there. I got to watch her in her peace, but I would've rather spent it another way.  
>We married not long after which shut up those rumours - with some added umbrage thanks to them. I would've kicked them out, if they weren't so rich. Even though we were married, and she had to come with me to attend to business, she still spent her spare time in the gardens. In fact, she spent most of her time out there when it was summer. And when the long days drew to a close, I could still see her out there by the light of her fire. I had to come and get her sometimes, to coax her to bed. People talked, as they always will. And people noticed the blank, far away expression that sometimes claimed her face in the short nights that she sat out there. Even though we were married, they said say she never loved me. Even though we were married, some had the nerve to argue that it wasn't <em>valid<em>.  
>Soon after, she became pregnant. That shut them up. The reception to her was warmer, now that she was doing her '<em>job<em>'. But she still sat in the gardens whenever she could, attended by the ladies that never left her except for at night, now that she was pregnant and carrying an heir. She worried me then, because it was freezing cold and close to winter and she was sitting outside in the cold. But I didn't say anything, because I knew how much she loved it out there. I just gave her a worried look, said what I felt in a few short words, and I hope she took heed of my warnings.  
>But my worries were right, and she caught the flu, too close to her due date. I was on the verge of inconsolable, and I wrote to Yang and Cecil and Cid because they'd had children and I needed to know if she'd be okay, if they'd both be okay. None of them knew. I sat by her bedside for as long as I could, only leaving for the most important work. I watched as she lay there, and shivered and sweated.<br>Finally, after too many days or weeks - I'm not really sure which it was - she got better. She stopped shivering and whining and fell into a rhythmic, deep sleep and woke up a few hours later, well enough again.  
>The next day, she gave birth to our daughter.<br>I asked her then, when she was rested again and our daughter asleep, why she spent so much time out there.  
>"Because it reminds me of home, and I won't get in the way there."<br>I felt like an idiot. I reassured her as well as I could that she'd never get in the way, that she was queen rightfully and she was the second most powerful person in the kingdom. She smiled at me, and through my shock and anger and sadness, I made her promise that she'd never spend so much time out there that she was endangering herself again. She nodded, with a sweet smile and a hand around mine. I slept soundly that night.  
>She still spent free time out there, amidst the flowers, but she wasn't there all the time. Besides, we had a daughter, followed by a son, and another daughter, and a son to take care of - our family was large, and growing.<br>Even if he didn't spend as much time out there, she did give birth to our third daughter out there, in the temperate climate of the humid springs. And when we brought Cuore back from the second moon, the first place she took her was the garden - filled with white lilies.  
>She spent her time with the children out there when they were older and, when the time was right and we took them to the Feymarch and Mist, they understood that the garden was like her old home. And they spent their time out there too. She loved the garden, and we helped her to keep it beautiful.<br>And one day, she died there, a white lily dropping from her hand.

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><p><em>It's only some fluff, and a divergence from the usual timeline I use.<em>

_White Lilies represent purity (not death!) in the language of flowers, which I have been using._

_So, thanks for reading, please review if you'd like, and follow for updates. Thanks!_


	11. 050 Eyes

_**Dislcaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy IV**_

_This is it! The final one now. __**Thank you so much to Valkyrie Celes for all of your reviews, and last week's too (I'm glad you liked it!), I've really enjoyed receiving them. And thanks to everyone one who has read up to here!**_

_There may be some more in the future (I have some prompts I'm eyeing up), but as for now this is it. Perhaps in about six months - a year when I'm less busy. But for now, please have fun reading this last prompt. Enjoy!_

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><p><em><span>050. Eyes<span>_

_Battle_

Sometimes their eyes would meet in the fierce heat of battle. Then, her Hazel eyes would be ablaze amidst the swirls of magic she created with the flick of her wrist. His steel grey eyes would be alight with restless energy and a morbid desire for his foe's blood on his strong hands.  
>Other times, their eyes would meet over the roaring fire at ungodly times of night. They would be sitting together on watch, the stillness if the night only disturbed by the crackles of the fire and the restless licks of flames, and moderately shy Hazel would meet smirking and teasing Grey.<p>

Rosa always said that it was the 'sweetest' with a gushing of awes, when he looked at her hazel eyes with his grey ones, just sneaking a peak out of the corner of his eyes, and she would dart her hazel eyes over to his for a moment, only for them both to look away.

Edward always said that he liked it best when the two of them - Hazel and Grey - would stare, unblinking, unwavering and entirely emotionally at each other. He said it showed the trust they held together, and their harmony. Edge rolled his eyes slightly and snorted under his mask, and Rydia nodded sweetly, feigning her disbelief, but really she valued that appraisal and agreed with it. She told Edge so a long time later, late at night, and he, to her surprised, agreed with him too.  
>His favourite time was when their eyes would meet during the long, boring meetings that Eblan was forced to hold every so often. He would catch her Hazel orbs and convey messages ranging from innocent to suggestive and he would watch with some strange satisfaction as the punk hue deepened and spread all over her face.<br>Her favourite time was when his Grey eyes would meet with their daughter's Hazel ones and he would forget anything else even existed in the entire world.  
>Throughout the entirety of their lives, the circumstances for them were always changing. Yet even five children - one of them adopted from the far off moon - later and after all manner of strange incidents occurred, Grey still met Hazel with an intense and equal gaze, just as lovingly as when Hazel met Grey.<p>

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><p><em>Well that's it! Not too much more to say now than review if you liked it, favouritefollow if you'd like, and I'll see you all some other time. _

_Thanks!_


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